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Singin' in the Rain:
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| OUTSIDE | INSIDE | OUTSIDE |
| silent cinema | music | talking cinema |
| not lovers | dance partners | lovers |
| 'real' world | 'film' world | 'real' world |
| ladder | song and dance | ladder |
| song | dance | song |
Liminal spaces in the "You Were Meant for Me" sequence
Kathy is the film neophyte, the film extra who by film's end is a popular star, and so is the body (and voice) that a cinematic transformation will be performed upon.
Prior to the sequence the cinema is not quite a musical cinema and Don is not yet a musical star (indeed, he remains a star of the silent screen who is about to be rocked by his difficulty and awkardness with sound). However after this sequence the film introduces us to the elocution lessons, clearly indicating that the cinema is now a 'speaking' cinema, though not yet musical.
Similarly Don and Kathy enter the soundstage as would be, and want-to-be lovers, but it is up to Don to persuade her of the honourability of his intentions, and in the process demonstrating the authority and legitimacy of what Singin' in the Rain actually is - a musical. Hence from this sequence on it is clear that they are now lovers, and Lina (and her voice) become the impediment to their possible futures.
Within the diegetic world of the film the before and after of "You Were Meant for Me" is suspended during the sequence so that its key 'effects'appear to be declared by the film, but in fact remain outside of the 'realism' of the image. This is contrasted to the diegetically motivated sound and effects prior to their entering the soundstage (see the exemplary analysis of this, and Singin' in the Rain, by Chumo) and the more 'usual' nondiegetic music of "Moses' supposes".
Finally, within the soundstage sequence itself, there is the use of the major prop (the ladder) and the song as framing terms around key transitional events of the sequence.